In Haiti, a hit song about ‘sugar babies’ and ‘papas’ becomes social commentary

The catchy song with the frenetic beat airs the dirty secret that everyone knows but no one talks about: “The brother is shacking up with mademoiselle but mademoiselle leaves him and takes an old man.”Born in Haiti’s most notorious slum, the wildly popular hit song Madan Papa — loose translation from Creole, sugar baby or daddy’s girl — has set off an uncomfortable debate about a sad reality. This nation’s brutal economic environment is leading young women ro enter into sexual relationships with older men in exchange for financial favors as a means of survival.

“The only desire of these young women is to find a man to rescue them out of the situation they are living,” said Jean-Philippe Maçon, singer and composer of the song Madan Papa, who goes by the stage name Marinad 007. “It’s a case of need. Love doesn’t really exist between the two.”

It’s not a new story. The international dating site SeekingArrangement.com, for example, boasts more than 300,000 registered “babies” and “daddies” in search of relationships. But in Haiti, where strict cultural norms kept such situations hush-hush in the past, the open declaration in a song played by DJs and climbing the charts on radio marks a new level of desperation, said Michel Joseph, a journalist with Radio Television Caraibes, who has been tracking the phenomenon.

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS HAS ERODED THE DIGNITY OF PEOPLE, PUT THEM IN A BAD POSITION.

Hérold Toussaint, sociologist

In a country marked by extreme poverty and inequality, Madan Papa, with its driving electronic dance beat, has become a social commentary, a musical reflection on the misery, sexual exploitation and erosion of values caused by years of economic and political instability.

“The economic crisis has eroded the dignity of people, put them in a bad position,” said Hérold Toussaint, a sociologist and a vice rector at the State University of Haiti.

The sugar babies phenomenon, he added, is more urban than rural, and “is an expression, a consequence of the brutal situation of the country’s economy that has hit everyone and every social class,” but affected the poor and women the most.

“There are no jobs, no work in the country,” said Toussaint. “So it has become a defense against poverty for the women....What’s worse is that the women believe they won’t be anything if they don’t subscribe to this logic; they cannot get out of their economic situation if they don’t take this exit door.”

Neesha, who didn’t want her last name used, was 19 when she met her “Papa,” a 55-year-old widower who holds a position of privilege as a government official. Three years later, she says proudly, the two are still going strong.

“I don’t like to suffer. He doesn’t allow me to ask for anything; he gives me everything,” said the second-year accounting major, who doesn’t know how much her college tuition costs because, “Papa pays for it.”

“He’s already assured me that when I finish school, he will give me a job because he’s in power,” she said. “Unlike a brother who won’t give you anything, a Papa never lets you ask twice.”

Neesha said she was criticized by her friends for dating a man older than her 40-year-old mother. Her mother also disapproved — at first.

“Eventually, she had no choice but to accept him because she couldn’t meet my needs,” Neesha said. “Before him, there were a lot of things that I wanted for myself. I wanted to pursue my studies and my parents couldn’t pay for it. The same week we met, I explained it to him. He encouraged me and I was pursuing my accounting degree.”

Before Haiti’s recent presidential elections deepened an already existing economic crisis, the World Bank announced that the number of Haitians living in extreme poverty, or on less than $1 a day, had dropped significantly since 2012.

But with 70 percent of the population either poor or vulnerable to falling into poverty, the international financial institution warned that reductions in foreign aid and increased political instability could reverse the gains.

WHILE PEOPLE ARE FINDING PLEASURE IN THE MUSIC, WE ALSO WANT THEM TO HEAR THE MESSAGE.

Jean-Philippe Maçon, aka Marinad 007, creator of hit song Madan Papa

Maçon, who takes credit for coining the phrase Madan Papa during an exchange last year with a young woman who had entered into a sexual-financial relationship with an old man, said his neighborhood is the epicenter of Haiti’s misery. In densely populated Cité Soleil, the country’s largest slum, the trash-heaped canals and shacks with corroding tin roofs offer little hope of future prospects.

But it was there, in a makeshift studio with little more than a mic and an outdated laptop, that he and his crew of other aspiring musicians mixed the beats that have made Madan Papa so popular thanks to its dance-friendly, defiant rabòday beats. Rabòday is a new electronic dance music emerging out of Haiti’s slums.

“While people are finding pleasure in the music, we also want them to hear the message,” said Maçon, 23, who has been invited to perform the song at Miami’s Compas Festival in May.

His definition of a sugar baby is a young woman in her 20s often living a double life with “a brother” — a young, often unemployed boyfriend — and a “Papa,” a financially-stable man old enough to be her father or grandfather, on the side.

Despite the song’s popularity, there has been backlash. Some of the women who see themselves reflected in the lyrics say it unfairly casts them as “gold diggers,” while others in Haiti have dismissed it as “a ghetto problem.” Jean Jameson Tintin, one of Maçon’s collaborators, says the song is about finding a solution for a broader societal problem that, if not addressed, risks becoming something widely accepted.

I CALL IT A PROSTITUTION OF MISERY.

Danielle Magloire, human rights activist

After being in heavy rotation in the slums for months, the song finally burst into the mainstream late last year after motorcycle taxi and bus drivers began playing it. Last month, it went viral on WhatsApp and social media after Joseph, the radio journalist, published a radio piece examining the phenomenon.

“I was surprised at how many women were willing to admit to being a Madan Papa,” said Joseph who was bombarded with sugar babies willing to share their stories after putting out a call on his Facebook page.

He said some of the fault lies in the breakdown of the family. “Parents, have just resigned from their roles. They’ve turned a blind eye,” he said.

Toussaint, the sociologist said it’s not that Haitian parents don’t care or have lost their values. Rather, he said, the country’s savaged economy has weakened and demoralized families, and undermined parental authority.

“Parents are obliged to close their eyes, not because they agree but because they have no choice,” Toussaint said, noting that many of the sugar babies end up as the main breadwinner of the family.

Danielle Magloire, a human rights activist and feminist, said the sugar babies phenomenon speaks to a larger crisis in Haiti, which is the sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of women and girls.

“You go to Petionville [in Port-au-Prince] and you see a bunch of young girls who are prostituting themselves. The misery has made things so grave that when you go downtown, for instance, and inquire about the price someone is paying for the sexual exchange, it’s mind boggling.”

The price, she said, is often less than a dollar.

“When someone has sexual relations with someone for those kinds of prices, it certainly can’t resolve their economic problems,” Magloire said. “On the contrary, it just allows you to get something to eat, something to hold you over. And because there is no social protection in this country, it makes the situation worse. I call it a prostitution of misery.”

The Madan Papa relationships, she said, are just another form of prostitution.

So far, the problem has gotten little attention from the government outside of occasional pronouncements about morals and a continuing crackdown against “Zokiki,” the name given to juvenile delinquency, underage prostitution and men who engage in sex with underage girls. On Friday, a former member of the Lower Chamber of Deputies was arrested after he was accused of having sex with an 11-year-old.

“What interests me is what policies [the politicians] are going to offer up to combat this phenomenon,” Magloire said referring to the larger issue of sexual exploitation in Haitian society. “It’s not a question of morals. The moral response hasn’t solved anything.”

Haiti’s politicians, she said, aren’t paying attention to the problem because “the category of people we’re talking about are people who are disadvantaged, who are living in misery, and it doesn’t involved the children of those who are well off.”

Also fueling the phenomenon is the way in which women are perceived in Haiti’s male-dominated society.

“They are considered to be merchandise. ‘In order for me to help you, you have to give me the merchandise,’ ” Magloire said. “There is a strong logic of sexual exploitation that is very pervasive where someone says, ‘I’m going to help someone go to school.’ But in order to give that help, there has to be a sexual exchange.”

Neesha doesn’t disagree that being a Madan Papa is a form of exploitation. She disagrees, however, that it’s a form of prostitution.

“They don’t support youth in this country so you are left with no choice but to seek out a Papa,” Neesha said.

Haiti’s power brokers, she concedes, are better off “putting their heads together to create employment” opportunities for young women like her and her friends, some of whom are now asking her “to ask my Papa if he knows of an available Papa.”

Maçon and Tintin, who haven’t earned a dime off the song because it was passed around on thumb drives and Haiti’s laws offer no protection to artists, insist Madan Papa is a form of prostitution and their song is a way of speaking out against it.

“It’s a practice that is not normal,” said Tintin, 24, reserving his criticism for the men. “They can always help the youth, but not in this way.”

Kickoff to women's month!! love the skin you're in!! It's the #nomakeupchallenge and I challenge these 3 beautiful Queens @mistyjeanmusic @tifane_haiti @phyllisiaross to take the challenge by doing a lil

Frantz Zéphirin might be a priest, but he is equally interested in affairs heavenly and earthly.

A leading Haitian artist, Zéphirin’s colorful works are on view at the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens through April 16. His paintings offer an intense mix of spirituality, politics and activism swirling through vivid hues and intricate patterns.

Zéphirin is a priest of Haitian Vodou, the Caribbean religion often referred to as “voodoo” that mixes elements of African spiritualism, Catholicism and other influences. GladdeningLight, the Winter Park nonprofit that explores the intersection of spirituality and the arts, partnered with the Polasek in Winter Park to present the exhibition, titled “Contemporary Visions of Frantz Zéphirin: Haitian Mystic.”

Most of the works were painted specifically for this exhibit. Zéphirin, 48, lives and works in his Temple of the Seven Virgins, on a mountain near Port-au-Prince.

If you own a home, you should read this. Thousands of homeowners did this yesterday, and banks are furious! Do this now before it's...

The Polasek Museum in Winter Park is hosting an exhibit of works by Haitian artist Frantz Zéphirin.

The Polasek Museum in Winter Park is hosting an exhibit of works by Haitian artist Frantz Zéphirin. (Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens)

Showing how recent the work is, one striking painting depicts the despair of Haiti after Hurricane Matthew devastated the island nation in October. “God Help Haiti,” Zéphirin writes of his large-scale work in acrylic, which also condemns Haitian politicians who took advantage of suffering citizens: In the eye of patterned storm bands, ghoulish skeletons clamor for votes from the battered populace.

Matthew is far from the only natural disaster to hit Haiti. After a 2010 earthquake, The New Yorker used an image by Zéphirin to illustrate its cover. That caught the eye of Polasek curator Rachel Frisby.

Polasek legacy: Sculptor's democracy statue returns to Prague

Polasek legacy: Sculptor's democracy statue returns to Prague

“It is easy to get lost in one of his works,” she says. “Let your eyes take in the overall dance of colors as you dissect each circular level.”

Zéphirin, who as a child painted for cruise-ship tourists, was the featured artist at GladdeningLight’s January Symposium in Winter Park.

“The art of Frantz Zéphirin is spirited and empowering, representative of individual struggle in the wake of societal neglect and political impression,” says Randall B. Robertson, founding director of GladdeningLight.

Some paintings resonate on a higher plane.

A cemetery throbs with color, light and mysterious eyes in “The Visitors.” Zéphirin explains the title of the piece this way: “They come among us to live silently and swallow our energy. They accompany us even after death to show us the passage so we may be like them… they are the ones who have preceded us on this planet.”

presented in our media,” she says, pointing to “early depictions in Hollywood of the dark jungle, inundated with exoticism and zombie terror.”

To offer more insight into Haitian culture, the museum will host a free “Haitian Mardi Gras” celebration from 1-4 p.m. Sunday with food, music and art activities. An educational lecture about Haiti will take place at 7 p.m. March 14 at the museum’s historic Capen House. To register, email info@polasek.org.

What else: Haitian Mardi Gras Celebration at the museum from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26. Open house includes art activities, food, music and lectures. Explore the intersection of Christianity, Vodou and the tradition of Carnival in Haitian culture. Free admission; $5 to park onsite.

Did you Know that Miss Universe runner-up Raquel Pelissier of Haiti is part-Filipino?

Miss Universe runner-up Raquel Pelissier of Haiti has Filipino roots. She revealed this in an earlier interview with GMAN entertainment portal.

“Before coming here in the Philippines, I was really excited because from my mom’s side, I have Filipino blood, and since I was little, they used to tell me that I never lived with that side of the family, but I’m interested in learning about the culture and that’s why I’m happy to be here,” she said.

Pelissier is currently attending graduate school for a master's degree in optometry.

"She is working on a research project on the regeneration of the optic nerve," her Miss Universe bio states.

Pellisier was a crowd favorite during the coronation night, which saw Iris Mittenaere win the crown.

I had a chance to sit down with the creator of HAITIAN ROCK memorabilia Ronald Timmer about the history of HAITIANS ROCK and the events that inspired him to come up with that concept.

HB: How did you come up with the idea “Haitians Rock”?

RT: The idea of Haitians Rock came about after the Earthquake of 2010 in Haiti. When I went to visit Haiti with my son after the earthquake, I was amazed at the positive attitude and passion Haitians still had after such tragedy. They still had the spirit to live and enjoy life with great pride of being Haitians.

HB: What is the goal of the “Haitians Rock” logo?

RT: The goal of the logo is to allow the brand to represent Haitians: their culture and pride through merchandise such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats etc. that everyone wants to wear, or in other words, that people want to “rock” ergo the phrase “Haitians Rock”.

HB: Are you going to expand on your goals?

RT: Yes, I have plans to expand on my goals as well as branch out.

HB: What impact do you think you have made with your merchandise?

RT: The fact that a lot of us who grew up here don’t know the impact of Haitians’ history throughout the world, or our influence as a powerful people is changing. Those who happened to grow up here sometimes denied the fact that they were Haitians and not knowing their history is totally wrong. Haitians Rock is trying to bring back the fact that back in the days and still now we are a force to be reckoned with.

HB: Are you satisfied with the support you have gotten so far from the Haitian community?

RT: Yes, I’m satisfied with the response of the Haitian community and I can’t wait for its reaction to other projects and merchandise that I’m working on and coming out with in the future.

HB: I have seen many celebrities wearing your products, including Garcelle Beauvais, how do you get celebrities to wear your products?

RT: To me everyone who wears my products is a celebrity in his/her own right. We as Haitians have such a wide range of celebrities among our ranks.

HB: What merchandise do you offer right now?

RT: I offer a wide range of merchandise: T-shirts, hoodies, bracelets, mugs, tote bags, hats, tanks for men and ladies, children’s t-shirts and I have a host of other products that will come out in the future.

HB: What new products should the public expect from you in the near future?

RT: Working on other items, such as shorts and towels, onesies for babies and toddlers.

HB: What have been your biggest challenges so far?

RT: There is a high demand for the merchandise and I have such a variety of products in limited quantities, my challenge is keeping the merchandise in stock.

HB: What has been your biggest success so far?

RT: When I am out and about, seeing people where my merchandise.

HB: What are your future plans?

RT: My future plan is to continue to help reunite Haitians throughout the world (as folks wear the merchandise, they tell other Haitians, “I am one of us”) and promote Haiti as a nation to be recognized and respected.

HB: Any new ideas you are working on?

RT: I have several new ideas and projects in the works, but they’re in the early stages and I am not at liberty to provide more information at this time.

HB: If someone wants to buy your product, where do they go?

RT: They can go to my website www.haitiansrockapparel.com or they can call me directly. I also attend Haitian events in the New York City area.

HB: Do you plan on opening a physical store?

RT: I would love to do that one day but for now I am focusing on the merchandise and branding.

HB: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

RT: I see myself growing and keeping the Haitians Rock and Haiti Rocks logos and brands moving forward.

HB: Any parting word?

RT: We are such a rich nation, in so many ways. Haitians Rock is about our history, our pride, our culture, country and about reminding the world of all that Haiti has offered and will continue to offer.

Woman are different one from another. For a particular woman to be sexually attracted to you and want to be sexually intimate in a deep and meaningful way, she has to feel that her individual sexual needs will be met by the sexual experience. She may even be attracted to you in all other areas but if her sexual instincts don’t pick up what she’s looking for sexually, forget about sex with her. She may keep you around

for a “good friend” because you meet all the other criteria for a “great lover” , but that’s as far as it gets. And if you are in a relationship/married and you fell to “measure up sexually”, you get too many “I’m not in the mood” and all the other criticisms of your sexual abilities almost every single time you try to get all hot and groovy.

So what turns her on? Again, women are different from another, but there are some common needs that almost all women share and things that turn them on big time:

1-A man who makes her feel beautiful just for who she is…in and out of the bedroom. One who does not just think “my woman is beautiful” but makes his admiration known verbally and non-verbally.

2-A man who makes her feel “safe” and treats her feel like she’s a vital part of his very existence and not just a favorite sperm dumpsite.

3-A man who does not shy away from public display of affection (PDA moments). One who looks at her the way President Obama looks at Michelle.

4-A man who listens, ask questions, takes directions and is willing to be sexually educated about a woman’s body. One who understands that no two women are alike and a woman’s sexual needs depend on her mood or immediate environment.

5-A man who knows the “right places” to touch and when; one who cares whether she’s enjoying the experience because her needs are being met.

6-A man who is pleasure oriented rather than performance oriented. One who is not driven by “let’s get it on” (ah! Ah! Ah!) but rather is completely 100% (uhm) involved in the process.

7-A man who understands that foreplay and afterplay are just as important- if not more important to a woman.

8-A man who understand that there are many other ways a woman can have an orgasm and not just through intercourse. One who knows how to pleasure her without necessarily having sexual intercourse.

9-A man who is not obsessed with his own body. One who is not into himself that he spends more time admiring/doing himself than he does admiring/doing her.

Many people have the habit of constantly running late — and they drive themselves, and other people, crazy.

Now, I have the opposite problem — I’m pathologically early, and often arrive places too soon. This is annoying, as well, but in a different way. As I write this, I’m realizing that I assume that chronic earliness is very rare. But maybe it’s not. Are you chronically early?

In any event, more people seem bothered by chronic lateness. Feeling as though you’re always running twenty minutes behind schedule is an unhappy feeling. Having to rush, forgetting things in your haste, dealing with annoyed people when you arrive…it’s no fun.

If you find yourself chronically late, what steps can you take to be more prompt? That depends on why you’re late. As my Eighth Commandment holds, the first step is to Identify the problem – then you can see more easily what you need to change.

There are many reasons you might be late, but some are particularly common. Are you late because…

1.You sleep too late.

If you’re so exhausted in the morning that you hit the snooze alarm five times, it’s time to think about going to sleep earlier. Many people don’t get enough sleep, and sleep deprivation is a real drag on your happiness and health. Try to turn off the light sooner each night.

2. You try to get one last thing done.

Apparently, this is a common cause of tardiness. If you always try to answer one more email or put away one more load of laundry before you leave, here’s a way to outwit yourself: take a task that you can do when you reach your destination, and leave early. Tell yourself that you need that ten minutes on the other end to read those brochures or check those figures.

3. You under-estimate the commute time.

You may tell yourself it takes twenty minutes to get to work, but if it actually takes forty minutes, you’re going to be chronically late. Have you exactly identified the time by which you need to leave? That’s what worked for me for getting my kids to school on time. As I write about in Happier at Home, we have a precise time that we’re supposed to leave, so I know if we’re running late, and by how much.

4. You can’t find your keys/wallet/phone/sunglasses.

Nothing is more annoying than searching for lost objects when you’re running late. Designate a place in your house for your key items, and put those things in that spot, every time. I keep everything important in my (extremely unfashionable) backpack, and fortunately a backpack is big enough that it’s always easy to find. If you still can’t find your keys, here are some tips for finding misplaced objects.

5. Other people in your house are disorganized.

Your wife can’t find her phone, your son can’t find his Spanish book, so you’re late. As hard as it is to get yourself organized, it’s even harder to help other people get organized. Try setting up the “key things” place in your house. Prod your children to get their school stuff organized the night before — and coax the outfit-changing types to pick their outfits the night before, too. Get lunches ready. Etc.

6. Your co-workers won’t end meetings on time.

This is an exasperating problem. You’re supposed to be someplace else, but you’re trapped in a meeting that’s going long. Sometimes, this is inevitable, but if you find it happening over and over, identify the problem. Is too little time allotted to meetings that deserve more time? Is the weekly staff meeting twenty minutes of work crammed into sixty minutes? If you face this issue repeatedly, there’s probably an identifiable problem – and once you identify it, you can develop strategies to solve it — e.g., sticking to an agenda; circulating information by email; not permitting discussions about contentious philosophical questions not relevant to the tasks at hand, etc. (This last problem is surprisingly widespread, in my experience.)

7. You haven’t considered how your behavior affects someone else.

A friend was chronically late dropping off her son at sports activities until he said, “You’re always late dropping me off because it doesn’t affect you, but you’re always on time to pick me up, because you’d be embarrassed to be the last parent at pick-up.” She was never late again.

8. You’re rushing around in the morning before you leave the house.

Consider waking up earlier (see #1 above). Yes, it’s tough to give up those last precious moments of sleep, and it’s even tougher to go to bed earlier and cut into what, for many people, is their leisure time. But it helps.

9. You hate your destination so much you want to postpone showing up for as long as possible.

If you dread going to work that much, or you hate school so deeply, or wherever your destination might be, you’re giving yourself a clear signal that you need think about making a change in your life.

Men: A change in thinking may improve your sex life. Get the details on seven common mistakes guys make with women, and learn how to avoid them.

Sex Drive Killers

Mistake 1: Sex Starts in the Bedroom

Men may turn on like a light, but for women, arousal doesn’t happen so fast, says sex therapist Ian Kerner, PhD.

Pave the way during the day by hugging, kissing, and holding hands. Have some fun together, and show you appreciate her.

Feeling safe and secure in the relationship is key for a woman to really let loose during sex, Kerner says. A long hug can go further than you’d think. “Hugging for 30 seconds stimulates oxytocin, the hormone in women that creates [a] sense of connection and trust.”

Mistake 2: Assume You Know What She Wants

“Just as many women are faking orgasm today as 20 or 30 years ago,” Kerner says. So, if she’s not enjoying herself, you might not know it.

Don't be afraid to ask questions like “How does this feel?” or “Do you want something different?”

In other words, ask for directions.

Mistake 3: Stick to Your Plan

Don't think that "if it worked the first three times, it will work the next three times," says sex therapist Sari Cooper, LCSW.

What turns her on may depend on her mood, and where she is in her monthly cycle. “Perhaps her nipples are more sensitive or her genitals are less tingly,” Cooper adds.

Pay attention to your partner, says psychologist Lonnie Barbach, PhD. “Try different things and she how she responds.”

When you find something that works, linger on it. Women often complain that men move on to the next thing just as they really start to enjoy an activity.

Mistake 4: Keep It Strictly Physical

Expand your idea of foreplay. Some men "focus on physical stimulation and often ignore mental stimulation,” Kerner says.

While men get stirred up by what they see, “women fantasize a lot during sex as part of [the] process of arousal.” Join in -- share a fantasy or a sexy memory.

Mistake 5: Expect Intercourse to Give Her an Orgasm

For 80% of women, intercourse alone won’t do the trick. Why not? Most sex positions don’t directly stimulate the clitoris.

There are other ways to pleasure her. “Women orgasm much more consistently from oral sex than from intercourse,” Kerner says. Also, try sex with the woman on top, or a vibrator made for couples to use during sex. “Men should feel comfortable, not threatened, with sex toys,” he says.

To help her hit the high note when you do have sex, take time to get her going before you make your entrance. “The closer women are when they start intercourse, the more likely they are to have an orgasm,” Barbach says.

Mistake 6: Skip the Seduction

Women like to be seduced. "Seduction is as important as, or sometimes more important than, technique,” Cooper says.

It helps to know what kind of turn-on your partner likes, whether it’s oral, visual, or mental, she says. “Does your partner like it when you talk dirty over the phone or text? Trace your finger slowly up her chest? Flirt with her at a bar?”

Also, if you like what you see, say so. "Let a woman know how desirable she is,” Barbach says.

Mistake 7: Focus on Ringing the Bell

Most women need clitoral stimulation to have an orgasm, but it's more complex than you may think.

Some men "don’t understand the anatomy of the clitoris,” Cooper says. It’s more than the small "button" you can see. Its nerve endings spread throughout the vulva and inside the vagina. All are potential pleasure points worth exploring.

“You can go back and forth,” Cooper says. Paying too much attention to the glans, at the top of the vulva, can take away from pleasure for some women. It's so sensitive, that too much stimulation can hurt.

The More Chores A Husband Does, The More Likely The Marriage Will End In Divorce

Couples may be better off living in a "traditional" household where women do all the housework if they want to stay together.

Norwegian researchers found that couples who share housework duties are more likely to divorce compared to those in a relationship where the woman does most of the chores. They found that the divorce rate among couples who shared domestic chores equally was around 50 percent higher than among those where the woman did most of the work.

"The more a man does in the home, the higher the divorce rate," said Thomas Hansen, co-author of the study entitled "Equality in the Home", according to AFP. While researchers found no or very little cause-and-effect, they believe that the association could be due to "modern" attitudes.

"Modern couples are just that, both in the way they divide up the chores and in their perception of marriage" as being less sacred, Hansen said, stressing it was all about values. "In these modern couples, women also have a high level of education and a well-paid job, which makes them less dependent on their spouse financially. They can manage much easier if they divorce," he said.

Researchers say that sharing equal responsibility for domestic chores doesn't necessarily contribute to contentment, and that the lack of equality at home and quality of life was surprising. "One would think that break-ups would occur more often in families with less equality at home, but our statistics show the opposite," he said.

He said that the correlation could be because couples are happier when they have clearly-defined roles in the relationship where people aren't stepping on each other's toes. "There could be less quarrels, since you can easily get into squabbles if both have the same roles and one has the feeling that the other is not pulling his or her own weight," he added.

The results from the latest survey appears to contradict a recent study carried out by researchers at Cambridge University earlier this year which found that men were actually happier when sharing the housework.

The previous study was based on a study covering 30,000 people in 34 countries. Researchers found that men had benefited the more they contributed to household chores, but researchers suggested that this could also be because preferred a quiet life doing housework than having a disgruntled other half.